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Wing and Shot: gun dog training
Book by Wehle, Robert G.
- GenresDogs
190 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1964
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May 29, 2024
I love hunting dog books. Not enough for me to want to kill any animals, but I appreciate the partnership between the hunter and their dog. Although I enjoy story books about hunting more, I also can appreciate the books on how to teach your dog to hunt. Wing & Shot, copywrite 1964, seems like other similar books, but others seem to give out more information and advice.
I liked a bit in the introduction that hints to the fun of hunting with a dog:
‘Wherever you are, there is upland game bird shooting available to you in this glorious country of ours and what a joy this sport is! What an experience and pleasure to behold! To do it well is truly an art. A fine bird dog is the essence of the sport. The pleasures and companionship of roving the fields and woodlots with a well-trained dog is an experience no man should miss nor boy be deprived.’
In fictional books about bird dogs, often there is fierce challenges over which is better, pointers or setters. If you look at reviews for bird dog hunting books under my shelf ‘dogs-hunting’ you can find a fair number of quotes referencing the debate. The next two paragraphs is how the author discusses the difference in this book:
‘The contents of this book, however, can be applied to any of the pointing breeds and the training procedure is the same for all. Which to select between the pointer and the setter is largely a matter of personal choice. In general, it seems that both have their particular qualities. Many feel that setters are more pleasing to the eye. Their long hair protects them from the briars and brush enabling them to hunt deeper, heavier cover. Some will say setters can’t stand the heat as well as pointers, that their long hair is a nuisance, and that they generally take longer to train and are slightly more difficult to handle.
On the other hand, many believe pointers train more readily and sooner, and that satisfactory hunting results may be had from a very young dog. The pointers generally seem to have greater endurance and are able to withstand warm weather to a greater degree. They are not as inclined to hunt the heavy briar cover as boldly as the setters because of their short hair. Other than these general differences, the two breeds seem quite equally matched in such essential qualities as bird finding ability, style, hunting desire, hunting range, disposition and intelligence.’
There is a chapter or two on the basic commands, including responding to his name, ‘good boy’, ‘no’, ‘whoa’, ‘come in’, ‘stay’, and ‘all right.’ I liked this bit on the companionship of a well-trained dog:
‘While your relationship is one of master and dog, you will find that as he matures, this relationship mellows to one of mutual under. standing and companionship. In the early stages you are the teacher and he is the pupil, but as he gains experience you will find that you can learn much from him, not only in the way of hunting, but of patience and understanding, of devotion and loyalty. You will find during times of mental stress, fatigue and jangled nerves that result from this accelerated, complex society in which we live, that your canine companion with his warm, unwavering devotion can bring you much comfort and pleasure.’
One thing I like in old books is to hear antiquated jargon. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of that in this book, but did find maybe a little in this next excerpt on why some people fail to train their dog well:
‘So often new dog owners have no planned program for their dog, and just blunder along aimlessly without an organized pattern. As the dog progresses the problems are tackled in an off-the-cuff fashion-too many times, incorrectly. The program, if you can call it that, is one of by-guess and by-gosh, lacking both consistency and continuity. The result of this kind of training is not only confusing to the dog but takes much longer, is unpleasant for the trainer, and usually produces an unsatisfactory finished product.’
The book teaches to introduce the dog to the sound of a gun using a .22 caliber blank pistol and to shoot it off when 50 feet away from the dog after it has just flushed a bird. They will then be too focused to pay the sound much attention. Then not to fire near the dog unless he is preoccupied with chasing game. Then you move up from the .22 to hunting with a .410 or 20-gauge, and then eventually to a 16-gauge shotgun.
There is not a lot on hunting different types of game birds, but there is this bit:
‘The developing and training of pointing dogs is essentially the same for all upland game, including the pheasant, quail, grouse and woodcock. Some feel that a dog is either a quail dog or a grouse dog or a pheasant dog. But in most cases a good dog will handle all upland game. It is true that it takes some dogs a little while to acquaint themselves with a new game bird. The adjustment consists of learning how to hunt the country, where to look for the game and how to handle the game after it is located. A dog that has been developed in pheasant country works his ground running pattern differently from that of a dog developed in quail country. However, after a month or two of experience on a new game bird, the average dog seems able to successfully locate and handle the game. There is always great controversy over which of the game birds is most difficult for dogs to handle. My personal opinion is that the partridge and woodcock appear to be the most difficult. Next comes the ring-necked pheasant and lastly the quail. However, dogs can be developed successfully on any of these birds and used on all.’
The book talks a lot about breaking the dog:
‘The actual breaking of a dog must be done at exactly the right time. Breaking a dog means making him steady to wing and shot. Most dogs, until trained otherwise, will chase birds as soon as they fly. Training the dog to remain steady while the birds fly off, to retain his original pointing position until the gun is fired, and to stay in that position until instructed otherwise, all come under the heading-breaking a dog.’
‘The term, breaking, means training the dog to remain steady to wing and shot until instructed otherwise. This is not absolutely essential to successful hunting. Many hunters allow their dogs to break shot, but not wing. Others prefer their dogs to break wing in order to retrieve game more quickly. My personal preference is to have a shooting dog broken, steady to both wing and shot, to move only when instructed. ‘
Here is the result if you follow the book successfully:
‘If the foregoing suggestions were properly executed, the results should have produced a completely trained gentleman’s shooting dog. His manners should be perfect and he should be under complete control at your will. He should have great enthusiasm for hunting and should do so with much zest, boldness and determination. His natural hunting instinct should be highly developed. While he is under your control he should have the freedom of mind to hunt intelligently in selecting his objectives and pursuing his game accurately.’
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. It was a quick read. There are a lot of photographs of his champion winning dogs along with a fair number of nice pencil illustrations. Other similar books seemed to have more information but that made them harder to get through, especially from the perspective of an armchair fantasy hunter. A nice addition to a collection of hunting dog books, especially if you can get the pretty dust cover (mine doesn’t.)
I liked a bit in the introduction that hints to the fun of hunting with a dog:
‘Wherever you are, there is upland game bird shooting available to you in this glorious country of ours and what a joy this sport is! What an experience and pleasure to behold! To do it well is truly an art. A fine bird dog is the essence of the sport. The pleasures and companionship of roving the fields and woodlots with a well-trained dog is an experience no man should miss nor boy be deprived.’
In fictional books about bird dogs, often there is fierce challenges over which is better, pointers or setters. If you look at reviews for bird dog hunting books under my shelf ‘dogs-hunting’ you can find a fair number of quotes referencing the debate. The next two paragraphs is how the author discusses the difference in this book:
‘The contents of this book, however, can be applied to any of the pointing breeds and the training procedure is the same for all. Which to select between the pointer and the setter is largely a matter of personal choice. In general, it seems that both have their particular qualities. Many feel that setters are more pleasing to the eye. Their long hair protects them from the briars and brush enabling them to hunt deeper, heavier cover. Some will say setters can’t stand the heat as well as pointers, that their long hair is a nuisance, and that they generally take longer to train and are slightly more difficult to handle.
On the other hand, many believe pointers train more readily and sooner, and that satisfactory hunting results may be had from a very young dog. The pointers generally seem to have greater endurance and are able to withstand warm weather to a greater degree. They are not as inclined to hunt the heavy briar cover as boldly as the setters because of their short hair. Other than these general differences, the two breeds seem quite equally matched in such essential qualities as bird finding ability, style, hunting desire, hunting range, disposition and intelligence.’
There is a chapter or two on the basic commands, including responding to his name, ‘good boy’, ‘no’, ‘whoa’, ‘come in’, ‘stay’, and ‘all right.’ I liked this bit on the companionship of a well-trained dog:
‘While your relationship is one of master and dog, you will find that as he matures, this relationship mellows to one of mutual under. standing and companionship. In the early stages you are the teacher and he is the pupil, but as he gains experience you will find that you can learn much from him, not only in the way of hunting, but of patience and understanding, of devotion and loyalty. You will find during times of mental stress, fatigue and jangled nerves that result from this accelerated, complex society in which we live, that your canine companion with his warm, unwavering devotion can bring you much comfort and pleasure.’
One thing I like in old books is to hear antiquated jargon. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of that in this book, but did find maybe a little in this next excerpt on why some people fail to train their dog well:
‘So often new dog owners have no planned program for their dog, and just blunder along aimlessly without an organized pattern. As the dog progresses the problems are tackled in an off-the-cuff fashion-too many times, incorrectly. The program, if you can call it that, is one of by-guess and by-gosh, lacking both consistency and continuity. The result of this kind of training is not only confusing to the dog but takes much longer, is unpleasant for the trainer, and usually produces an unsatisfactory finished product.’
The book teaches to introduce the dog to the sound of a gun using a .22 caliber blank pistol and to shoot it off when 50 feet away from the dog after it has just flushed a bird. They will then be too focused to pay the sound much attention. Then not to fire near the dog unless he is preoccupied with chasing game. Then you move up from the .22 to hunting with a .410 or 20-gauge, and then eventually to a 16-gauge shotgun.
There is not a lot on hunting different types of game birds, but there is this bit:
‘The developing and training of pointing dogs is essentially the same for all upland game, including the pheasant, quail, grouse and woodcock. Some feel that a dog is either a quail dog or a grouse dog or a pheasant dog. But in most cases a good dog will handle all upland game. It is true that it takes some dogs a little while to acquaint themselves with a new game bird. The adjustment consists of learning how to hunt the country, where to look for the game and how to handle the game after it is located. A dog that has been developed in pheasant country works his ground running pattern differently from that of a dog developed in quail country. However, after a month or two of experience on a new game bird, the average dog seems able to successfully locate and handle the game. There is always great controversy over which of the game birds is most difficult for dogs to handle. My personal opinion is that the partridge and woodcock appear to be the most difficult. Next comes the ring-necked pheasant and lastly the quail. However, dogs can be developed successfully on any of these birds and used on all.’
The book talks a lot about breaking the dog:
‘The actual breaking of a dog must be done at exactly the right time. Breaking a dog means making him steady to wing and shot. Most dogs, until trained otherwise, will chase birds as soon as they fly. Training the dog to remain steady while the birds fly off, to retain his original pointing position until the gun is fired, and to stay in that position until instructed otherwise, all come under the heading-breaking a dog.’
‘The term, breaking, means training the dog to remain steady to wing and shot until instructed otherwise. This is not absolutely essential to successful hunting. Many hunters allow their dogs to break shot, but not wing. Others prefer their dogs to break wing in order to retrieve game more quickly. My personal preference is to have a shooting dog broken, steady to both wing and shot, to move only when instructed. ‘
Here is the result if you follow the book successfully:
‘If the foregoing suggestions were properly executed, the results should have produced a completely trained gentleman’s shooting dog. His manners should be perfect and he should be under complete control at your will. He should have great enthusiasm for hunting and should do so with much zest, boldness and determination. His natural hunting instinct should be highly developed. While he is under your control he should have the freedom of mind to hunt intelligently in selecting his objectives and pursuing his game accurately.’
Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. It was a quick read. There are a lot of photographs of his champion winning dogs along with a fair number of nice pencil illustrations. Other similar books seemed to have more information but that made them harder to get through, especially from the perspective of an armchair fantasy hunter. A nice addition to a collection of hunting dog books, especially if you can get the pretty dust cover (mine doesn’t.)
July 31, 2013
Bob Wehle is the breeder of the famous Elhew line of English Pointers. His breeding program was a model of perfection with an emphasis on selection that was soon lost as others tried to carry the torch. He had a great style of natural bird dog training that may not be possible if you don't have woods full of quail out back. The ideas are sound and proven per his many champions. Good stuff.
November 23, 2016
I bought this book when it first came out and have used it over and over. A great book if you have a bird dog you want to train. I have several books on dog training but for bird dogs this is the best.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews